So many of you may remember that long ago I had made a post on how to configure your setup to play Guild Wars 2 with a gamepad. WeltallZero approached me about improving on and refining this project. After many revisions and an enormous amount of work on his part (including many hours of headstart, thank you buddy!), we have arrived at a solution that is very simple for anyone to set up, very efficient and natural, and incorporates a TON of crucial functions (including some that aren't even bound in-game by default).
We call it:
The Ultimate Configuration
(Click on the Google Docs link, then go to File->Download. Personally I just saved any extracted it in my GW2 folder.)
The underlying magic can work with any controller but our profile assumes you're using a 360 controller; I'm not sure how it reacts to others yet. Weltall has included detailed, easy-to-follow instructions and I HIGHLY suggest you read through them, but for those who want the quick and dirty "make it work!" version:
-Extract the zip.
-If on Win7, right click on Xpadder.exe, go to properties and set it to run in Compatibility Mode for Windows Vista
-Open START.BAT. This opens Xpadder and the AutoHotKey script that makes all this work. If your gamepad is on, but XPadder doesn't show a large Xbox360 gamepad image, you may have to manually select the Gamepad profile. Just click the top leftmost tiny icon that looks like a gamepad, select "Open", then select the file "Xbox 360 Controller.xpaddercontroller".
-Make the following keybinds in GW2:
, (comma) to "Previous Target". You don't have to clear the default (Shift+Tab), just add it as its alternate.
. (period) to "Swap Weapons". Again, keep the default binding and add it as an alternate. This is to avoid conflicts with different regional keyboards using different keys for this.
Z to "Stow/Draw Weapons".
X to "Swim Down".
L to "Walk".
U to "About Face".
Numpad + to "Camera" -> "Zoom In". This MUST replace the PgUp binding.
Numpad - to "Camera" -> "Zoom Out". This MUST replace the PgDown binding.
-Turn
double-tap to dodge off. You most likely want to
turn auto-loot on as well.
-The default Camera Rotation Speed in GW2 is very low. Raise it in the options a bit (to roughly halfway up the slider). You can always adjust this to your preference.
And you're done, configuration complete. From here on out it's a pretty darn seamless experience. Here's the layout:
It looks complicated of course, but in all honestly, the core functions are all very simple. The really important things are:
-Hold Back to get your mouse cursor, RB to Left Click and RT to Right Click
-RB is used to access many secondary functions, i.e., X is Skill 1, but RB + X is Utility Skill 1 (7 key)
Many of my original bindings remain, and a bunch of stuff I didn't even try to map is included. Some of the mapping decisions might seem weird to you but this has honestly been playtested by us to hell and back and it's really quite something. If you've been using a gamepad before now, making the switch over can take a little getting used to (especially just relying on the back button for all cursor-duties), but it's so worth it. If you're just trying out using a controller for the first time, there's no better time!
The real magic here is a solution Weltall implemented in the script to
reset your mouse pointer to a fixed positon anytime you move the camera, press or release back, etc. This translates to a
vast improvement in AoE skill usability, as they'll always be aimable from a fixed position. It takes a little getting used to but it feels incredibly natural.
If you're playing in windowed mode or fullscreen windowed mode, he even added an
overlaid cursor to help with aiming. Tragically we can't find a workaround yet to get this to appear in fullscreen, but even without it you can get used to aiming pretty quickly.
To return to normal windows operation just click R3 when you're done playing (or hit F7).
Please give it a shot and post your thoughts and impressions! Xpadder's GUI is actually pretty intuitive, so feel free to make your own tweaks and modifications and share them. Weltall and I will probably continue making "official" releases with small tweaks and fixes for a while, and the link in this post will go to the updated version.
